Special History Issue – Troubled Years

1916-1918

James Parkinson

As 1916 began, Christ’s ransom and .the restitution hope for mankind were being preached far and wide. About eight million volumes of Studies in the Scriptures had already been circulated worldwide, colporteurs were distributing them on every continent, and Pastor Russell’s sermons were published weekly in over a thousand newspapers. But overseas work was being impeded by the war in Europe. Pastor Russell made no trips abroad that year. He was slightly ill as he began what turned out to be his last railroad trip, with destination Los Angeles. His discourse in that city was delivered with a weak voice and while seated, rather than with his usual ambulatory presentation. Afterward Joe Brown drove him and Menta Sturgeon to the railroad station for the return trip. On October 31 on the train near Pampa, Texas, the pastor died. The body was removed from the train in Oklahoma. A Presbyterian minister offered his home for the viewing of the body, although it was taken to the only mortuary in town. Helen Noah (later Williams, Swanson) and her carload were the first on the scene a few hours later.

Menta Sturgeon wired his wife that Pastor Russell had died. A. H. MacMillan intercepted the telegram at the Brooklyn Bethel home and wired J. F. Rutherford, then at a convention in Oakland, Maryland: “The old man is dead.”1 Rutherford came immediately to Brooklyn and took over.

Pastor Russell’s will had designated a five-member Editorial Committee: Wm. E. Page, Wm. E. VanAmburgh, H. Clay Rockwell, E. W. Brenneisen, and F. H. Robison. Then, “The names of the five whom I suggest as possibly amongst the most suitable from which to fill vacancies in the Editorial Committee are as follows: A. E. Burgess, Robert Hirsh, Isaac Hoskins, George H. Fisher (Scranton), J. F. Rutherford, Dr. John Edgar.” The declaration of “five” names, followed by six names, could possibly be because John Edgar (of Scotland) had died (although seemingly Rutherford’s name should have appeared after Edgar’s, if that were an added codicil), or because, as keeper of the will, he had added his own name. (It is said that Rutherford denied all requests to see the will.) Rutherford was added to the Editorial Committee.

At the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society’s next annual meeting on January 6, 1917, Rutherford insisted that some new by-laws needed to be passed in order to continue Watch Tower operations, though he did not allow the new by-laws to be read to the elders’ meeting or the membership meeting. Among the by-laws were provisions that votes for officers of the Watch Tower board would be counted only for those nominated, and that election as president of the Peoples Pulpit subsidiary would be for a life term.2 At the annual meeting A. H. MacMillan was chairman; for election as president he recognized only those who would nominate or second for J. F. Rutherford, and then those who moved and seconded that all votes be cast for him. Rutherford’s assertion in the January 15 Watch Tower that “There being no further nominations … Brother Rutherford was declared the unanimous choice of the convention as President of the Society for the coming year,” hardly seems to epitomize the matter.

Pastor Russell’s last will and testament left “all my voting shares … in the hands of five Trustees, as follows: Sr. E. Louise Hamilton, Sr. Almeta M. Nation Robison, Sr. J. G. Herr, Sr. C. Tomlins, Sr. Alice G. James. J. F. Rutherford convinced these five that it was contrary to law for them to vote those shares (which constituted a majority of all shares). It is unclear whether Rutherford then proceeded in the name of the Watch Tower to vote those shares himself, as he did in subsequent elections.

Rutherford’s efforts to establish control met increasing resistance from the majority of the board. On July 17, 1917, Rutherford claimed the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society charter provided for the election of directors annually; thus only the three officers of the board (elected January 6) were “legally” members of the board. So he appointed A. H. MacMillan, G. H. Fisher, J. A. Bohnet, and W. E. Spill to replace Ritchie, Wright, Hoskins, and Hirsh.3The board majority, joined by F. H. McGee, countered that officers of the board cannot be elected unless they are first members of the board; therefore, there are either seven members or no members. Both sides purchased legal opinions to support their claims. The ousted members decided not to institute legal proceedings, following 1 Corinthians 6:6,7.

A series of publications ensued from various sides, including:

w Harvest Siftings (August 1917, by Rutherford)

w Light After Darkness (September 1917, by the ousted board members)

w Harvest Siftings No. 2 (October 1917, by Rutherford)

w Harvest Siftings Reviewed (November 1917, by P. S. L. Johnson)

w Facts for Shareholders (November 1917, by the ousted board members)

The Watch Tower proxies for the January 5, 1918, annual meeting were solicited with Power of Attorney (granting the proxy holder the right to override the designated vote). About 13% of the votes recorded were for M. Sturgeon, A. I. Ritchie, H. C. Rockwell, I. F. Hoskins, R. H. Hirsh, J. D. Wright, and W. J. Hollister.4 The convention then voted to ask R. H. Hirsh to resign from the Editorial Committee.

Thereupon several withdrew to a hastily-convoked mini-convention at the Fort Pitt Hotel. A Committee of Seven was elected to carry on work outside the Watch Tower and IBSA(International Bible Students Association, as a voluntary association, not the British corporation of the same name). The first convention scheduled outside the IBSA was held on July 26-29, 1918, at Asbury Park, New Jersey. Two or three hundred attended the Providence, Rhode Island, convention on November 8-10, where it was resolved to form the Pastoral Bible Institute (PBI). The first board of directors consisted of J. D. Wright, chairman; Ingram I. Margeson, vice-chairman; I. F. Hoskins, secretary; P. L. Greiner, treasurer; H. C. Rockwell; F. H. McGee; and E. J. Pritchard. (The Committee of Seven was dissolved.) The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom (TheHerald) journal commenced publication in December under an Editorial Committee of I. F. Hoskins, Randolph Elwood Streeter (Providence, Rhode Island), I. I. Margeson (Westwood, Massachusetts), H. C. Rockwell, and Dr. S. N. Wiley (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). PBI offices were in Brooklyn, New York.

When P.S.L. Johnson, Raymond Grant Jolly, and Robert Hirsh were not re-elected to the Committee of Seven, they, with most of the Philadelphia church, severed association with the Committee. Johnson began publishing The Present Truth and Herald of Christ’s Epiphanyin December, 1918. The Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement (L.H.M.M.) was organized in 1920 and The Herald of the Epiphany issued regularly for public witness work. (In 1952 the name was changed to The Bible Standard.) The L.H.M.M. calls Pastor Russell the Parousia Messenger, and P.S.L. Johnson the Epiphany Messenger.

When the so-called “seventh volume” of Studies in the Scriptures was published in July 1917, suggesting that the Gospel age harvest period was to end in the spring of 1918, theIBSA classes in the Pacific Northwest backed it all the way. But C. E. Heard, of Vancouver, and many others felt Rutherford’s recommendation in the spring of 1918 to buy war bonds was cowardice, and sacrilegiously perpetuating harvest work. The Stand Fast Bible Students Association was organized on December 1, 1918, at Portland, Oregon. It published Old Corn Gems (Joshua 5:11,12) monthly, and organized many conventions in the Northwest and even in the Midwestern states. Perhaps 40% of the Watch Tower adherents in the Northwest left in favor of the Stand Fasts. Many (non-doctrinal) divisions followed a Seattle convention in July 25-27, 1919.

In 1922 John A. Hardeson and C. D. McCray organized the Elijah Voice Society for an ambitious regathering and witness work. They published the Elijah Voice Monthly, and became the most prominent “Seventh Volume” group.

In 1923 Ian C. Edwards and C. E. Heard organized the Stand Fasts into the Star Construction Company in Victoria, British Columbia, although Heard was persuaded by his wife to stay in Vancouver. Fearing the prophesied time of trouble, Edwards in 1924 took the company of more than three hundred to Sooke and the Gordon River on the southwest part of Vancouver Island. Because the business failed in 1927, most packed up and went home.

From twelve hundred adherents in 1919 in the Northwest and near Wisconsin, these “Seventh Volume” movements have dwindled to near vanishing.

Overseas, Alexander Freytag started the largest movement to break with the IBSA: the Man’s Friends group (or Philanthropic Society). They numbered several thousand until the French and Swiss groups divided.

In Great Britain, Jesse Hemery was progressively centralizing power in himself5 but was opposed by Henry J. Shearn and Wm. Crawford. P. S. L. Johnson was sent by J. F. Rutherford to England, where he expelled Shearn and Crawford. Secession from Hemery and the Watch Tower Society progressed rapidly after World War I ended. The Bible Students Committee was constituted on April 5, 1919, in London to coordinate publishing, pilgrim service, etc., outside the IBSA. Its seven initial members were H. J. Shearn, W. Crawford, and Frank B. Edgell of London (west side); Fred G. Guard, Sr. and Alex Guy of Forest Gate (London east side), William Seager of Ipswich; and George B. Tharratt of Bishops Stortford. (The Committee was dissolved in 1945.) Edgell began publishingFellowship in 1923. Shearn began publishing the B.S.C. Monthly (then Bible Students Monthly until 1951, now Bible Study Monthly) in 1924. Crawford commenced The Old Paths in 1925 (continuing to 1961).

In Australia, R. E. B. Nicholson rejected the “Seventh Volume” and in 1918 formed the Berean Bible Institute in Melbourne; it began publishing Peoples Paper which continues today.

In India, S. P. Devasahayam (“Davey”) from near Nagercoil had begun the work in 1912, including the translation of Studies in the Scriptures, vol. 1, into Tamil and then Malayalam. After Pastor Russell’s death, contact with the Watch Tower was lost for many years, but contact with the PBI was quickly estabished.6 Davey appointed V. Devasandosham to succeed him around 1920, and he organized the Associated Bible Students (later, India Bible Students Association) and centered the work in Madras.

In Germany and Switzerland, Samuel Lauper published Herold des Königreiches Christi, which was the German Herald of Christ’s Kingdom. He also published a German translation of R. E. Streeter’s two Revelation volumes.

Polish activity outside the Society began with the journals Strasz [Watchman] in 1923, edited by R. H. Oleszynski, and Bzask Nowej Ery [Dawn of a New Era] in 1930. Oleszynski also translated the six volumes and Tabernacle Shadows into Polish.

Probably a few thousand left the IBSA in the U.S. and Canada at this time, and many thousands overseas. Of the several groups, all continued to stress Ransom and Restitution. While the Stand Fasts, Elijah Voice Society, P. S. L. Johnson, and A. Freytag all believed the door to the high calling was now closed and that the hope of newcomers would be restitution on earth, Johnson rejected The Finished Mystery as the “seventh volume” ofStudies in the Scriptures, and hence was not associated with the other two groups. Freytag’s claims to direct divine revelations were a concern to those outside his group.

The PBI, Bible Students Committee [England], and similar committees on the European continent (also in India), and the Berean Bible Institute (Australia), all stressed that the high [heavenly] calling remained open (though the called, chosen, and faithful were getting fewer), that Christ’s second presence had occurred, Israel was to return to her land, and the end of the present evil world would occur soon. It seems a majority of those with the heavenly hope eventually left the IBSA, though not all for the same reason.

In the 1920s F. H. Robison contacted Adolph Ernst Knoch of the Concordant Publishing Concern, then in Los Angeles, and was converted to universal reconciliation. He soon persuaded Menta Sturgeon, O. L. Sullivan, Walter H. Bundy, W. T. Hooper, and most of the ex-IBSA Bible Students in Finland and Sweden to go with him.

Of Pastor Russell’s nieces and nephews, Alice Land Williamson was sister-in-law to A. Ed. Williamson, a leader in the 1909 New Covenant movement; Ada Land White, in Kansas, followed P. S. L. Johnson; May F. (“Thelma”) Land Kendall, in Florida, and Joseph Russell Land, in Atascadero, California, associated with the Dawn. None stayed with Rutherford.

Prominent Personnel

Many who had been with Pastor Russell were well known to Bible Students around the U. S. and Canada, and some overseas also. All were well versed in Scripture.

Alfred I. Ritchie (1871-1946): Watch Tower Vice-President. The principal administrator of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, including its main office and publishing plant. Originally from Nova Scotia. A capable administrator, though not gifted as a leader.

Alex Hugh MacMillan (b. 1877): The greatest orator the IBSA had. Widely known for his September 1914 discourse, “I Am Ready to Be Offered,” in which he said, “This is positively my last public address on this side of the veil [meaning in this life].” But Pastor Russell then persuaded him to speak at the New York Temple the following Sunday. (MacMillan did not get along well with A. I. Ritchie and several others at the Bethel home.) He apparently was given charge of the Brooklyn Bethel, home for the Watch Tower workers, in 1916.

William E. VanAmburgh (d. 1947, age 83): Secretary/Treasurer of the Watch Tower. Originally from South Dakota. A man of financial integrity. Some gift for writing, including poetry.

Joseph Franklin Rutherford (1861-1942): From a large Calvinist family; formerly a small-town lawyer in Missouri; at least once appointed to serve as judge in a case; politically active in Democratic politics. Custodian of Pastor Russell’s last will and testament. Apparently dismissed from Bethel in early 1915, living in Monrovia near Los Angeles, working as a lawyer for a department store in Los Angeles. Forceful in disposition and persuasive. Debated Rev. John H. Troy at First Baptist Church in Glendale, California, April 21-24, 1915.

Clayton Woodworth (d. 1951, age 81): A bright idea-man, living in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 1907 he had assembled a Bible commentary from Watch Tower publications, called theBerean Comments.

James Dennis Wright (d. circa 1920): Elderly, of gentle manner. The senior member of the Watch Tower board of directors.

Isaac F. Hoskins (d. 1957): An able journalist. Often had a sharp tongue for those who differed with him. One of many Hoskins brothers and sisters in the IBSA. A Watch Tower director.

George H. Fisher (d. 1926): Another in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Active also in the German Watch Tower. (In 1926 urged the German classes to disfellowship J. F. Rutherford.)

R. Hipolit Oleszynski (1857-1930): Polish immigrant to Chicago. Active in Watch Tower work in the USA since 1891, and intermittently in Poland since 1894.

Jesse Hemery (b. circa 1863, d. 1963): Manager of the IBSA (the British subsidiary corporation of the Watch Tower) in London, England.

Henry J. Shearn (d. 1946): Secretary of the IBSA in London.

William Crawford (d. 1957): From Scotland. Treasurer of the IBSA in London.

R. E. B. Nicholson (d. 1955): Former colporteur. Manager of the Australian branch of the Watch Tower since 1909.

Alexander Freytag (1870-1947): Manager of the Watch Tower office in Switzerland. Capable in the French language, but also in German and English.

1. It Is perhaps possible the wording was a coded message, rather than simply disrespectful.

2. J. F. Rutherford was the only one seeking that office. (The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was a Pennsylvania corporation; the Peoples Pulpit Association was a New York subsidiary, incorporated to do business in that state when Watch Tower offices ere moved to Brooklyn, New York.)

3. The simultaneous release of “The Finished Mystery,” advertised as the “seventh volume” ofStudies in the Scriptures, appears to have been irrelevant to the arguing that followed this move.

4.. If the shares C. T. Russell had contributed to the Watch Tower were excluded, this percentage might have been closer to 16%. Had Power of Attorney not been exercised, it is unknown how much higher it would have been.

5. Hemery later published Futurist interpretations of Revelation, but he could not be forced out of the London Bethel home because of a lifetime contract with the IBSA.

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Being raised a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses from youth until age forty when I broke free from them, and began reading this publication after my daughter died unexpectedly, it is evident who has the sayings of the Lord for this time” the Bible Students. ~ Lewis Draney

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